CHANGE NEEDED FOR BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The situation we find ourselves in currently within BCPS is truly sad. As taxpayers, we care deeply about our education system and the leadership examples set for our children by ALL BCPS employees on a daily basis.

With so many recent reports about the terrible conditions in so many of our school buildings, the repeated unethical conduct of some of the top leadership in BCPS, the low student test scores in so many of our schools, continuing discipline issues in our schools, lack of transparency, significant fear of retribution by staff for speaking up about their concerns, and the overall dysfunction of our very divided Board Of Education, we feel that a total change in leadership needs to be a priority.

The recent negative publicity has caused many of the citizens in Baltimore County to lose faith in what used to be an outstanding public school system. By continuing with the current leadership, we are not able to demonstrate to the public that our school system is truly serious about beginning to right the wrongs of past and some present leadership. Repeated unethical conduct should NEVER be a quality of ANY superintendent in our school system. Mistakes are made by everyone sometimes, but when those same mistakes continue to be made that appears to be evidence of lack of true ability to lead and provide a positive example for our students. If there is something about a particular standard form that is confusing, it only makes sense that the individual who is confused would simply ask for clarification prior to submitting the completed form each year, especially when they are doing so as part of their ethical code of conduct.

While Ms Verletta White may have provided some leadership skills during her term as interim superintendent, it is our feeling that she is NOT the right candidate for the superintendent position. She has failed to provide transparency and has also failed to provide swift responses to serious inquiries made by current Board Of Education members as well as some citizens of our county. This is not the way to reinstate some semblance of trust in our public school system by the citizens of Baltimore County.

We are asking each member of the current Board Of Education to hire a new superintendent who does NOT have any history of ethical violations in his/her previous positions and a leader who will welcome open communication with board of education members, all staff, and the public.